rating vs much higher ranked opponents

I recently was in a tournament and had a player 500 pnts higher than me. I was not successful, but the rating didn't go down. I didn't expect it to, TBH.

Two questions:

How much higher does the opponent have to be for you to no lose rating points?

Secondly had I won, I would not gain points. Seems unfair if I win, I gain a huge amount of points but if I lose I don't lose a single point.

Chess is black and white you win or you lose.

Interesting concept if they awarded points for a close loss vs tough opponent and I realized it will never happen as it would be totally subjective.

I think the ratings need to be around 800 apart for no change, but anything 500 or more apart might be no points for a win or something super small like +1 based on the k-factor in the rating formula (k-factor takes into account basically how active the chess player is or if they are newer to chess - in which case ratings will fluctuate more). 

I use this elo calculator to get an estimate on rating differences. Just type in the ratings and click "calculate" I shows the estimated probability of the game outcome and also how many points each will win or lose based on the game result.

https://www.3dkingdoms.com/chess/elo.htm 

Well I still feel its 500 as my last match was 500 pnts lower than the opponent and I didn't change. It does protect the higher ranked player and at the same time prevents them from sandbagging maybe before a tournament etc.

I do think that calculator is cool, will have to check it out

Glad you liked the elo calculator; if your game 500 points apart was this one:

https://www.chess.com/game/daily/348146549?username=millerd66 

that is consistent with the calculator as rating DID change. Apparently the change was 1 rating point. It isn't much, but it wasn't no change upon one side winning.

It looks like you did lose 1 point for your game vs the 1520 which should be about right. The threshold for not losing any points is definitely more than 500 but there’s no exactly specific number - it depends on the Glicko (volatility) of the players’ ratings. For players that have a well established rating it’s around the 700 point mark. 

How does an “unrated” game play into this???

Yes you guys are right I was wrong I did lose 1 point